This full interview covers when we might see Kingdom Hearts III, the world selection process for Kingdom Hearts III and future entries, both fans and development staff alike dealing with the series' complex story, Yasue's personal wish to be involved with future Kingdom Hearts titles ("especially if it's a new saga"), and the team's goal to have Kingdom Hearts III help with expanding and revitalizing the Japanese video game market.

Yasue: “Nomura has always been working on Kingdom Hearts III full-time, so nothing’s really changed there. Nomura is really the visionary, so he doesn’t work on the nitty gritty details. That’s something we do in Osaka; alongside development, we do the technology. That hasn’t really changed. We get Nomura’s input but it’s not a day-to-day thing, he just has these big ideas sometimes he tells us about. The pace really depends on how our team’s doing and that was never affected.”

Yasue: “I can’t make any announcements on the Disney worlds but, even there, there are so many that we’re studying."

[Yasue explained to me that two teams of programmers were employed, one focusing on 2.5 Remix and the other on Kingdom Hearts III, while the designers split their time evenly between the two projects. Now 2.5 is out the way, it’ll enable them all to focus on Kingdom Hearts III but he doesn’t believe there was ever really a slowdown. Admittedly, getting to grips with Unreal Engine 4 took some getting used to, but he believes the dividends are already paying off.]

Yasue: “We’ve shown some videos of what Kingdom Heart III looks like and it does look a bit different but it’s still clearly Kingdom Hearts. UE4 was introduced and there’s a lot of stuff that we didn’t have to do previously, like lighting and shading, which we now have to do. The technology is vastly different but it’s exhilarating to have all this stuff to learn. There’s so much we can do, the consoles are so fast. Some of the videos with Sora, with individual strands of his hair moving? That stuff is a real leap in technology. I can’t make any announcements on the Disney worlds but, even there, there are so many that we’re studying. They do a lot of new stuff as well so we’re figuring out how to incorporate them as well.”

[As everyone’s well aware at this stage, however, Disney has been busy growing its portfolio since the last game in the franchise launched. With both Marvel and LucasFilm now sequestered inside the walled garden of the House of Mouse, speculation has been rife that Avengers or Star Wars-themed playgrounds could make an appearance in the upcoming title. The look of fatigue that crosses Yasue’s face when I ask the question he’s clearly heard a million times before isn’t unexpected, but his answer should give fans some hope.]

Yasue: “I can’t really go into any specifics or say anything about Star Wars, but when we come up with worlds we really want variety and to make sure that there’s a lot of different types of worlds. Any world that looks special is definitely a consideration; everything from the characters, to how they look and the differences between them. We think Star Wars is great but I’m not going to relate that to Kingdom Hearts III yet! We want a wide variety of worlds and when we come up with ideas, it’s the differences and the originality of each that’s really important.”

Yasue: “Any world that looks special is definitely a consideration; everything from the characters, to how they look and the differences between them. We think Star Wars is great.

[Alongside this hint, Yasue said that just because a world has previously appeared in the series doesn’t mean it won’t do so again. Square Enix is taking it’s time to evaluate which worlds will best suit the story and create a diverse experience for players and, until they’re ready, we shouldn’t expect any announcements. What he would admit, however, is that the non-linear structure we’ve come to expect won’t change, saying we’ll be able “to play them as you want”.]

[Of course, just because Endor or Iron Man don’t end up making it into Kingdom Hearts III doesn’t mean they’ve missed their shot for good. It’s been confirmed before now that Kingdom Hearts as a franchise will continue on beyond the conclusion of The Dark Seeker saga as the games up to this point have been called. Yasue explains he’d like to be part of whatever’s next, especially if it’s a new saga, though he acknowledges one or two issues may need to be addressed.]

[I first brought up the common complaint that, with so many different instalments on different platforms, a major problem with the franchise so far is how obtuse the story can be. It’s a complaint he acknowledges as fair, joking that even some of the development team find it hard to keep track of the story.]

Yasue: “Honestly, a lot of the developers, me included, are also sometimes confused. Nomura has all this stuff in his head and sometimes doesn’t tell us. He keeps it secret. So there’s a lot of stuff he says in interviews that surprises us. I think he wants to shock us as well as fans, but a lot of it is hidden from us too!"

Yasue: “What we do next time around largely depends on the hardware, too. It’s changing so rapidly."

Yasue: “What we do next time around largely depends on the hardware, too. It’s changing so rapidly and we obviously don’t know what’s going to happen. We’ll be sure to consider the ones that most of our players are using though. We don’t even know the business model or how to sell it. That’s changing rapidly too, so we may have to adjust to that as well.”

[Despite this, it seems unlikely Square Enix is prepared to let one of its most-loved franchises languish when there’s an opportunity for money to be made. Yasue, however, argues it’s something much nobler that motivates the developers based on the ground. There’s a general consensus this year’s Tokyo Game Show was much more exciting than it has been in previous years thanks to the strong presence of titles like Bloodborne. With the Japanese games industry having been labelled as a dying behemoth for years, the new consoles seem to have offered a second lease of life. According to Yasue, Square is under no illusions about how all the big Japanese developers need to do their bit.]

Yasue: “With the development of Kingdom Hearts III we want the market to become bigger. We want to be responsible for moving it forward. There’s a lot of stuff, technology-wise, that we have to play catch-up to as well but I think right now we’re doing a lot of new stuff. By making, developing and publishing Kingdom Hearts III, hopefully the Japanese market will change. I think everyone from Square Enix feels that responsibility. We think we’re maybe even the people who are most responsible for doing that. We’re the only people in the right position who are able to change the market."

Yasue: “As a whole, the market isn’t getting smaller. It’s getting bigger, but it’s going towards smartphone apps. Personally, I enjoy making big budget, huge development games with long cycles so for me it’s exciting and hopefully that translates to the player.”

[Kingdom Hearts III may still be some way off, but it seems like Square Enix is fully aware of the pressure on it to deliver. As our interview draws to a close, I ask Yasue one more time if we’ll maybe see the game before 2015 is out? “We will make sure to make Kingdom Hearts III as quick as possible,” he says with a tired smile. It seems that’s as good an answer as I’m going to get.]

It is now December 5 in the United Kingdom, which means that Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX is finally available across Japan, North America, Australia/New Zealand and Europe! A lot has been happening over the last few days, with North American and European launch events for the game, featuring new Kingdom Hearts III footage as well as plenty of director interviews.

We've compiled all of these together below so that you can catch up on everything.

At both the North American and European launch events for Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX, new Kingdom Hearts III footage was shown off, with more information promised to be revealed in 2015. This footage was only intended for those who attended the event, and as a result was not released online.

Thankfully, staff member AndrewHankinson was able to attend the European launch event in London, and has written an exclusive first-hand account at what was contained within. This can be read below. For impressions of the rest of the event, please check out the full event coverage.

During the presentation at the European Launch Event in London for Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX, the logo for Kingdom Hearts III was displayed on the screen. The host Dan Seto (Square Enix Europe community manager for Japanese titles) was ‘confused’ at seeing the logo appear, but then Tai Yasue (co-director of the Kingdom Hearts series) and Rie Nishi (producer of the Kingdom Hearts series) intervene and say they put it in. We were all reminded that we could NOT take photos or film at all throughout the presentation and especially for this. Then the Kingdom Hearts III teaser began…

It starts off with sketches and 3D models of different new Heartless. One is like the ‘Solider’ Heartless with wings and another Heartless looked like a bull with the body of a human.

A clip appears with a white background and Sora in his Kingdom Hearts II outfit, but changes to his Valor and Wisdom from outfits through out the clip. He is using one Keyblade and it transforms into the gun-like and canon-like weapons similar to ones seen in the 2013 teaser. Large angelic wings also appear on Sora.

Concept art of ‘Cable Town’ fades in; the town has little buildings situated on 3 hills with a big tower situated on the centre hill. It zooms slightly in and a library/study picture fades in. The static picture of the library/study then fades into a clip; there is a large window at the centre which has curtains flowing from the breeze and soft lighting which is realistic as it glows into the room from outside. It cuts to and plans across a table (next to the central window) with a chess board and chess pieces (one of which has a Mickey Mouse head on top). It then cuts to Sora, in his Kingdom Hearts II outfit, walking towards the table with the chess board and picks up one of the pieces. The clips with Sora show his hair reacting more realistically to his movements from the swinging in the fighting clips and him walking in the library/study.

At the end, a message appears promising fans that there will be more news about Kingdom Hearts III in 2015.

In an interview with Eurogamer, Tai Yasue, the co-director of the Kingdom Hearts series, has discussed Kingdom Hearts III in the lead up to Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX's release in Europe. Here, Yasue explained the switch from Luminous Engine to Unreal Engine 4 and its effects on Kingdom Hearts III's development, Tetsuya Nomura's involvement in the development so far, and the prospect of various Disney properties being used in the game. These important portions of the interview can be read below, with a big thanks to Eurogamer.

On Unreal Engine 4:

Yasue: "The technology is moving forward a lot. That's something we've learned from the West, I think, in a big way. We're using Unreal Engine 4 right now, and that really has changed the way we make the game. There was nothing wrong with the Luminous engine at all. We decided that Unreal 4 was right for us. There was a huge network of people actually using it, we were communicating with the Japanese people at Epic a lot - it was like a complete product."

Yasue: "It was easy to shift to, but at the same time though, there was a lot of stuff specific to Kingdom Hearts that we couldn't really do on Unreal 4 at first. So we had a lot of co-operation from Epic - they did a lot - at the same time we were doing a lot of customisation of the engine as well, to suit our needs. A lot of painstaking detail - the shadows for example, the really vivid colours, that sort of thing - we couldn't really do at the beginning, so we had to remake/customise the engine and add a lot of parameters."

Eurogamer: Given that the game began life on Luminous, does that mean work on the initial teaser from E3 2013 had to be completely scrapped?

Yasue: "We use the same graphical assets, so we didn't throw any of that away, and I guess a lot of the experience we got from making that for E3, that experience really translated to our development now. It was in our initial production stage, so I think we were learning a lot of stuff while using the Luminous engine."

On Nomura's involvement since stepping down from being the director of Final Fantasy XV:

Yasue: "Nothing has really changed. The development team is in Osaka, and Nomura-san didn't really do a lot of the detailed stuff, as he's really the sort of creative visionary. We communicate as much as we did previously, so our working relationship hasn't changed at all. We are speeding up things for development, obviously, on Kingdom Hearts 3 as we move along, but I don't think it has anything to do with Final Fantasy."

Eurogamer: Has Disney made anything off-limits to the team at Square yet?

Yasue: "At our current stage, they have not said no. There's a lot to choose from, a lot of wonderful new IPs. No specifics but there are a lot of new IPs that we are considering and there's a lot on our table, and Disney hasn't said no - we don't have any trouble with that."

On the purpose of the HD collections:

Yasue: "It's been 12 years since the original Kingdom Hearts came out in 2002; it's been a long while. We want new users to be able to understand the story before going into Kingdom Hearts 3, so I guess that was the plan - making Kingdom Hearts 3 but making it more accessible by making 1.5 and 2.5."

Tai Yasue, co-director of the Kingdom Hearts series has revealed in an interview with Kotaku that no Disney properties are off-limits for Kingdom Hearts III and has revealed Marvel and Star Wars are being considered for Kingdom Hearts III. You can read what Yasue said in full below.

“Yeah, I can’t go into specifics, but there’s a LOT of new Disney stuff and we have our plates full,” said Yasue. “Theres a lot to consider - we’re looking at all of Disney, the new ones as well, they have a lot of pull and draw.

“We have to come up with a world that has a lot of originality. We want variety in our new Kingdom Hearts, so we don’t want too many of one sort of world, that would look the same. For each world there has to be some meaning for it, in the plot; in Birth By Sleep, for instance, in the Cinderella scene, the characters learn something specific by relating to Cinderella. Also, gameplay-wise, is that world something that would make gameplay fun? There’s a lot I can’t say, but there’s so much to consider.”

When I asked whether I could safely infer that that Star Wars and Marvel are not off-limits, Yasue confirmed that they are being considered. “Well, yeah. They’re all under consideration,” he said. “Nothing’s off-limits, we’re considering all of the worlds. There are so many wonderful concepts. We’re happy about that, but at the same time it’s really tough to choose.”

At the Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX North American launch event at the Walt Disney Studio Lot in Burbank, California, Square Enix has shown new Kingdom Hearts III footage and revealed that they will release new information in 2015. The new footage showed concept art, new Heartless designs, a huge town titled Cable Town with Sora in a library/study room and new gun Keyblade attacks for Sora. Sora was shown in various Kingdom Hearts II outfits including Valor and Wisdom form. To expand on the gun Keyblade attacks, Sora's Keyblade transforms into dual guns and then transforms into a cannon. Chi was also written on a blackboard in the study room, this may be related to Kingdom Hearts χ[chi] but this is simply speculation. Thanks go to @churroz for the information.

Update: Siliconera has posted their impressions of the footage. They reveal that Yoko Shimomura, composer of the Kingdom Hearts series was also at the event and performed a couple of the series' most famous songs. They have also included what Heartless they believe were shown. You can read them below.

Spoiler

Square Enix held a Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix fan event in Los Angeles earlier today. The event began with Livan playing Kingdom Hearts songs like "Kairi" and "Hand in Hand" on a piano. Surprise guest, Kingdom Hearts composer Yoko Shimomura joined him for duets of "The Other Promise" and "Dearly Beloved."

All the way at the end was a little teaser for Kingdom Hearts III. Tetsuya Nomura, Kingdom Hearts series director, said it was too early to show worlds, but wanted to show fans something new. We were not allowed to record any footage from the teaser, which opened with concept art for Heartless in the upcoming game. One enemy looked like a souped up Blue Rhapsody Heartless with flames around it. Another enemy looked like the Soldier Heartless type with angel wings. A new enemy, a large Heartless with a bull-horned helmet, looked like a knight. There was also a tiny Archer heartless holding a bow with a quiver on his back. Some of these were sketches, but others like the Knight Heartless were 3D models.

A clip of Sora wearing his Kingdom Hearts II costume was shown next. He had the Oathkeeper keyblade in his hand which could transform into a gigantic gun. When fired, Sora would rock back a little bit and a star-like projectile fired from the bazooka-like weapon.

The next scene showed a town with white houses stacked on top of each other and huge windmills. This town seemed grand and tranquil, not unlike Twilight Town, but instead of a sunset palette the buildings were primarily white. A plaque underneath said "Cable Town" and the camera zoomed into one of the buildings. Doors opened and the camera panned horizontally by chess pieces (one of the pieces had Mickey’s head on top) and a chess board. The scene switched to Sora entering the room and walking towards the chess pieces which were placed by a window. Sora picked up one of the pieces and the trailer ended with a message promising more Kingdom Hearts III news in 2015.

Update 2: Square Enix has told those who attended the event that the footage was only intended for those who attended the North American and European launch events and that more information will be revealed in 2015. This is likely due to the footage still being quite raw. Thanks go to @churroz for the tip.

An interview with the director of the Kingdom Hearts series, Tetsuya Nomura appears in this week's issue of Famitsu Weekly which releases on October 9, 2014. The interview discusses Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX, Kingdom Hearts III and how Nomura feels about the compatibility between the Kingdom Hearts series and multiplayer. Also as we reported earlier, Nomura also reveals that Kingdom Hearts III is now being developed with Unreal Engine 4.

You can read the full interview translated in English below thanks to goldpanner.

Kingdom Hearts -HD 2.5 ReMIX- by Square Enix was released on the Playstation 3 on the 2nd October 2014. Just in time for its release, we published an interview with director Tetsuya Nomura in our 9th October issue and 16~23rd October joint issue of Weekly Famitsu. We are now posting a corrected and edited version of that same interview.

>An even more universal game with HD remastering

—The main illustration you drew for the box art of KH2.5 is once again a gorgeous composition. Please tell us your concept for the illustration, as well as any things that gave you trouble.

Nomura: I drew the characters of the three included titles just like KH1.5. The surrounding Keyblades suggest the Keyblade War which Master Xehanort, the main focus of the image, is largely concerned with. At first I drew Xehanort even bigger, but I made him a little smaller due to the placement of the logo. Also, as this was to be used for box art, the rating symbol would be added in. The symbols used overseas, especially the European version, are rather large. The Disney characters can't be covered up by that mark, so I laboured over the layout.

—So that's what you took into consideration for that composition. Also, KH titles always have memorable taglines, and KH2.5 is no exception with the tag 'an unforgettable journey'. What intentions were involved in it?

Nomura: In the beginning the publicity side came up with a blurb, but I wanted to use simpler, 'catchier' words, so we decided through a heated discussion. I was in San Diego for the 2014 International Comic-Con, so I was hitting up the publicity guys on LINE (dry laugh). Finally we moved towards settling the intentions I wanted to convey in a KH way, and based on how KH2.5 includes some of the most important 'journeys' in the series, the publicity side went with something that highlighted 'what kind of journeys' they are.

—We see. Now we will ask about the game content of KH2.5. Were there any parts you were particularly attentive to during production?

Nomura: Due to size issues, in the KH 358/2 Days (hereon Days) cinematic work included in KH1.5 we left out combat and just went with text intermissions that explained, but many fans pointed out that it was a shame, and that weighed on me. As KH Re:coded didn’t have the volume of Days, we were able to follow-up on that part by creating cinematics for the battles and Disney world stories as well as adding some narration by Mickey. Mickey both opens and closes KH Re:coded, so he was the best choice for the narrator. Also, as KH Birth by Sleep (hereon BbS) was going from a handheld console to a non-portable one, we needed to adjust the controls and such. At first, we were also looking for a way to include the multiplayer section as it was. This wouldn’t have been too difficult if we were only working on BbS, but as we had three titles’ worth of work on our plates for KH2.5, we included it reworked into a single player feature.

—Did you have any feelings reexamining your own past work when producing KH1.5 and KH2.5?

Nomura: Replaying games made years ago often does let you feel their age, but I’ve never felt that way with KH games. I think perhaps the HD remastering has made them even more universal. Also, my impression from playing it after so long was, wow, I didn’t think there were so many specialised worlds in here. Perhaps that’s because they were easy to use game-wise when I included them. For Olympus Coliseum etc, we staff went along with our planning under the assumption that, while we still hadn’t decided on whether to include something, there might always be a KH3 (laughs). There’s also Sora’s growth as a character. In KH1 I was incredibly conscious of keeping things ‘Disney-like’, but as the titles have added layers I think an originality has appeared.

—After your long involvement with the series, what do you think is the particular charm of Disney works?

Nomura: It is the extremely loving and careful way they show and handle their characters both inside and outside the works themselves. I think this is what makes Disney works top class worldwide. This is very important with games too, according to the type, and the whole thing can become good or bad depending on the way the characters are handled. I’ve learned a lot from that.

—That’s rather deep. Can you please recommend any Disney works, or talk about any you’ve seen recently?

Nomura: I think I’ve spoken about this before, but I like The Lion King, that hasn’t changed. Recently, I was invited to the preview of Frozen, and I thought it was really good. Now that Pixar’s Mr Lasseter has also become the chief creative officer at Disney, I expect that from now on there will be even more works that are even more challenging. As a fan I am really looking forward to Big Hero 6 which premieres in December.

—Speaking of Frozen, there were reports that co-director Mr Tai Yasue made a statement regarding content with a point about ‘if Frozen were to appear in KH’.

Nomura: That surprised me too. I checked with Yasue, because we haven’t touched upon it at all, and there’s been no talk about what we’d do ‘if we put it in for now’. I do understand, though, because interviewers overseas do talk about their wishes for what they’d like to happen. In response, we Japanese don’t give clear yes or no answers. Then sometimes they take it as as ‘fact’. It was misinformation that came from a difference in culture.

—So that’s what it was. Now, how do you actually choose new worlds?

Nomura: The shape the process is taking for KH3 is everyone sharing what sort of things we’d like to do on what sort of worlds, and then making decisions looking at that. A wide range of works fall within our targets so there are a lot of candidates, but we can’t make them all, and in the end we also need the OK from Disney. But, the staff working on KH3 are pushier than they’ve ever been (laughs). They get highly passionate on the spot, elaborating to me exactly why we ‘just have to do this!’, so it’s difficult to make choices.

>The highlights of each title and the recommended features in Final Mix

—Now we will ask about each title included in KH2.5. What are the highlights of the HD version of KH2?

Nomura: KH2 has denser maps and directed parts compared to KH1, and there are also more characters. We have made it easier for you to see the expressions of even the characters at the back of the screen, which I think makes HD an even greater blessing for the information-packed KH2.

—It does feel a little difficult to play KH again after having left it for a while. What are your thoughts on the degree of difficulty?

Nomura: KH has been called a 'wolf in sheep's clothing' from the early days, and that concept hasn't changed since. Finding a strategy after much trial and error is something I believe games ought to involve, and I think to put as much of that into KH as possible. However, the 'sheep' side of things is the premise that people who aren't very good with action can play too. That's why if you level up you can defeat the last boss. Above that, we have structured the game so that it offers extremely difficult features such as Proud Mode and hidden bosses for those who want to challenge themselves outside the box. I wanted to make it so that you could investigate and discover ways to defeat those more efficiently by paying attention to the timing of your abilities etc., too. Thanks to our staff, I think we were able to make that broad range of difficulty a reality.

—We see. KH titles are definitely the kind of games that give back the more you play, or perhaps absorbing is better way to put it. We agree. You added many such extra challenges to KH2 in Final Mix. Which do you recommend?

Nomura: The Lingering Will. It was one of the greatest fights of the entire series, and still is. He is ridiculously strong and difficult to defeat, but I'd like you to try and experience a glimpse of that strength for yourself, even if you can't win. I also think that you will have different feelings playing BbS depending on whether you've fought him or not. KH2.5 does include BbS as part of the set, so after playing KH2 and fighting the Lingering Will, I'd like you to then play BbS.

—Next, please tell us about the highlights of the HD version of BbS.

Nomura: In some ways, HD had an even greater impact on a game made for a handheld compared to KH2 which was for a home console. It's beautiful, of course. I could say it feels like something completely new and unseen. As for the plot, having three protagonists means there are many memorable scenes, and I couldn't single one out. If I were forced to say, I might say the secret movie. I think it's one of the most moving scenes in the series so far, and I really want you to see it in HD.

—Do you have any particular recommendations from the factors added to Final Mix?

Nomura: The Secret Episode. It goes a step further than any of the other secret movies in the series so far by letting you play it as an episode. There's an urgency to the plot and battles, and I'm glad I tried putting it in. By the way, the words 'Birth by Sleep -Volume Two-' show up at the end. That points out that Aqua's story of the developments in the Realm of Darkness does exist. That she didn't necessarily just wander lost in the darkness for ten years, and that there is a story she experienced. However, it is not shown - that episode lives up to its other name, 'A fragmentary passage...', and it cuts off there. I'd like to get a chance to tell that story somewhere, though.

—We are very interested in Aqua's Episode. There were multiplayer sections in the original version. What do you think about the compatibility of KH and multiplayer?

Nomura: If I had to say one way or the other, I think perhaps the players of KH want to be made to be immersed completely in the world they are playing, so I don't think we will actively move towards multiplayer. Perhaps something that gives an asynchronous feeling of being connected, like in Re:coded, would fit better. Of course, I do consider multiplayer elements if it would fit the title, such as in KHχ (Key), where the premise is based on the Keyblade War, and BbS, where the three main characters made for interesting opportunities.

—Lastly, please tell us about the highlights of the HD version of Re:coded.

Nomura: It's been turned into cutscenes and given voicing - the whole thing is a highlight. The dialogue in parts that were shown through text in the original version have also been polished up in order to be voiced, so I think the overall impression is considerably different. There are also textual intermission sections, which feel fresh as they are voiced by Mickey. Also, we adopted the style of the original animated films for our directing. For example, in Alice's world, we had the voice actor read parts that had been written out straight in the subtitles with a 'catlike' inflection. (Translators note: he says sentences ending in '～dana' were read as '～danya', which represents a cat's meow.) I think there are lots of things like that to discover in this title. Also, because Days, which was included in KH1.5,was divided neatly into chapters by day, it was organised like a sequence of short, connected stories. In Re:coded, we were careful to try and connect the longest story to watch as possible by including Disney Worlds, battle scenes and narration.

—This is the second time Re:coded has been remade. What sort of significance did each title have?

Nomura: It was first developed for mobile phones, which was a challenge. We had issues with volume, and we tried to change the play style for each world so as not to become monotonous. That concept was passed down after that, despite us basically starting from scratch when we remade it for the Nintendo DS as Re:coded, with that eccentric growth system and such. I think of all the titles in the series it's the one that's the most sheer fun.

—With all the new scenes, the cinematic work the HD version became is a gorgeous title. We were surprised at the content of the completely new scenes.

Nomura: We put in two completely new scenes. The 'Tome of Prophecy' appearing in one is connected to KHχ (Key), so you'll come to understand what sort of power it holds. I included that element in KH2.5 because many people right now have the impression that χ(Key) is 'detached from the series', and I wanted to convey that there is indeed a firm connection. The other scene is set just before the scene in KH3D when Axel and the others wake up. I think many questions will come bubbling up if you look deeply into it, so please see what your imagination comes up with.

—By the way, with the shift to the next gen consoles underway, especially overseas, would you say you want to release KH1.5 and KH2.5 on the Playstation 4 or the Xbox One?

Nomura: The future plans aren't decided, but since we've only just finished work on KH2.5, we would need a little more time to look into the technical aspects of HD remastering for next gen consoles.

>The reason that enigmatic trailer was put out

—Let us bring up a slightly older topic. You used the opening section of KH3 in a recently released trailer for KH2.5, didn’t you. The conversation between those strangers was rather enigmatic.

Nomura: I had received so many responses after releasing that play video previously, and I could feel that people were eagerly anticipating KH3. I really wanted to put out some sort of message, even though I couldn’t show any content at that time. And, I wanted to show everyone that KH3 begins somewhere nobody is expecting, with speaking from new voice actors that haven’t appeared in the series before. I really enjoyed seeing everyone try to guess who those two are.

—We definitely were surprised. We hadn’t expected it to begin like that at all.

Nomura: I wanted to go with an introduction that wouldn’t make fans be like ‘yeah, we knew that’ upon seeing the opening section, and that would have both fans who knew the series and fans who didn’t be like ‘what’s this? What’s going to happen next?’ and start feeling anticipation. I do this every time, but I want to try and make things even for both fans and newcomers. By the way, the conversation between those two is actually a lot longer, it goes for over two minutes. When you hear their conversation, you’ll understand the flow of everything so far.

—The phrase ‘Lost Masters’ appeared in the conversation…

Nomura: That may not necessarily deserve capitalisation. It just means what it says, ‘Keyblade Masters who have been lost’ (laughs).

—Oh, is that so (laughs). We are very much looking forward to KH3, but there will be a bit of a wait to go after KH2.5 is released. In the meantime, are there any new developments for the series?

Nomura: Counting the developments in PC browser game KHχ (Key), I’d like to think that fans will spend the least amount of time possible separated from works from the series.

—We do wonder how KHχ (Key) will go from here.

Nomura: The scenarios of KH3 and KHχ (Key) are intimately related, so they are being written at the same time. That’s why the plot of KHχ (Key) has been on pause for a little while, and I am very sorry, but I have to ask you to please wait a little longer. We are also currently investigating developments that would allow more people to experience KHχ (Key).

—KHχ (Key) isn't the only title that hasn't been covered in KH1.5 or KH2.5. There's KH3D, too.

Nomura: That's true. Aside from KHχ (Key), which is currently still open for service, KH3D is the only title in the series not remastered in HD. I personally don’t like leaving it as the odd one out, so I think it’s an issue that requires consideration.

>Sora's mobility in KH3 is what?!

—Once more, may we ask about the state of development on KH3?

Nomura: It’s moving steadily along the estimated schedule. As an effect of us changing the game engine to Unreal Engine 4, which we did for several reasons, we had a lot of problems with the image creation, but we have been able to progress without incident with the collaboration of Epic Games.

—That's a drastic change, to be sure. However, at the same time, our hopes for the finished product have risen. What sort of work are you yourself currently doing on it?

Nomura:Right now I am in the middle of writing the scenario and selecting worlds. I'm also drawing new clothes for Sora and Riku.

—Wow, we wish we could see it already! By the way, out of scenario writing or world selection, does one come first before you proceed?

Nomura: I do them parallel. I create the rough story, then the staff work out the details of how play will flow in-game. Then I fit each world in while keeping the flow of the plot in mind. After that, we take it apart and go along making decisions about the main story and the story of each world.

—We see. So, how is the action part coming along right now?

Nomura: When I went to Osaka the other day and saw how development was coming along, Sora’s mobility was too high. He’d reached a level where just moving around would probably make him invincible (laughs). Of course, he can’t move like that from the beginning, but it looks like by the end he will be incredible. I’m looking forward to the next check. In a previous trailer Sora fought by transforming his Keyblade. The variations of those are also turning out to be amazing. It’s close to the way the original Keyblade wielders fought in BbS.

—We can't wait for the next announcement. Now, we’d like to ask a little about your work outside KH3. FFXV was announced at Tokyo Game Show 2014, wasn't it?

Nomura: That's all up to the company. I can't say any more than that right now.

—Previously you said that various jobs had fallen into your lap. Are those keeping you busy, too?

Nomura: I do have many projects other than KH3. For some reason in this timing I have received many offers from both inside and outside the company, and I will be responding to those first. There are things that were given to me individually, and there are many things related to games, things outside games, and things that are yet to be announced. The closest thing is that at in October I am going to Comic Con which is being held in New York. While I have been given those jobs, I do intend to keep moving my own projects forward.

In an interview with Famitsu Weekly the director of the Kingdom Hearts series, Tetsuya Nomura has revealed Kingdom Hearts III is now being developed with Unreal Engine 4 rather than Square Enix's very own Luminous Engine. Nomura explains he changed the engine "for a variety of reasons". We'll have a full translation of this interview later, for now you can read this part of the interview in full below thanks to goldpanner. Thanks go to @aibo_ac7 for the tip.

---Once more, may we ask about the state of development on KH3?Nomura: It’s moving steadily along the estimated schedule. As an effect of us changing the game engine to Unreal Engine 4, which we did for several reasons, we had a lot of problems with the image creation, but we have been able to progress without incident with the collaboration of Epic Games.

The Kingdom Hearts Series Memorial Ultimania released today in Japan and included in is a message from director of the Kingdom Hearts series, Tetsuya Nomura. The message included concerns Kingdom Hearts III and the Kingdom Hearts series in general. You can read it below thanks to SQEX.info.

Message from Tetsuya Nomura

If I had to pick, I am a person more on the dark side like Xehanort and co., I harness the burning anger in my heart into what I create. Kingdom Hearts III’s current development explodes very much in this sense. Each time, it’s a battle with Sora and co. who are the exact opposite of myself, it’s been over 10 years and yet we haven’t reached a conclusion.

This battle will surely last longer.

In Kingdom Hearts III as well, I am scheming many challenges that Sora and his friends must overcome, because I myself cannot lose either. And in preparation for the great battle that lies ahead, we have this one book that looks back on their entire journey.

When I think about it, I had an explosive mindset when I made the first Kingdom Hearts as well.

Thus when I look back at all the material, I feel that fever again. Fans who will continue the journey so far alongside Sora and his friends will also recall their own feverish enthusiasm. With that passion, we will not lose to darkness, and Sora’s journey will continue onwards.

The journey still continues, but I would be overjoyed if you stuck with us until the very end.

Within several interviews with co-director of the Kingdom Hearts series, Tai Yasue, there have been strong hints that he would like to see a world in Kingdom Hearts III based around the successful Disney film, Frozen, leading to speculation that it was all but confirmed.

The recent interview with Tetsuya Nomura in Famitsu Weekly, however, debunks the notion that world selection is set in stone just yet.

Nomura: That surprised me too. I checked with Yasue, because we haven’t touched upon it at all, and there’s been no talk about what we’d do ‘if we put it in for now’. I do understand, though, because interviewers overseas do talk about their wishes for what they’d like to happen. In response, we Japanese don’t give clear yes or no answers. Then sometimes they take it as as ‘fact’. It was misinformation that came from a difference in culture.

It's worth noting that, when asked, Nomura admitted that he did enjoy Frozen and also looks forward to Disney's next feature film, Big Hero 6. In addition, the interview revealed that, in spite of no longer feeling truly limited to being "Disney-like" and moving the series into more original territory, there is still a deep appreciation for the Disney content of the games and the inspiration that they provide.

It is the extremely loving and careful way they show and handle their characters both inside and outside the works themselves. I think this is what makes Disney works top class worldwide. This is very important with games too, according to the type, and the whole thing can become good or bad depending on the way the characters are handled. I’ve learned a lot.

He also mentions that he is excited by the appointment of John Lasseter (director of Toy Story and Cars), has been appointed as chief creative officer at Disney.

The full interview is available here, with translations thanks to goldpanner.

Earlier, we published a translated interview summary from the Famitsu Weekly issue released on September 25, 2014, where the director of the Kingdom Hearts series, Tetsuya Nomura, talked Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX, Kingdom Hearts III, and Kingdom Hearts χ[chi].

Now, goldpanner has published a full translation of this interview, and thanks to her, it can be read below.

Spoiler

Interview with Director Tetsuya Nomura

>An even more universal game with HD remastering

—Were there any parts you were particularly attentive to during production of KH2.5?

Mr Tetsuya Nomura (hereon Nomura): Due to size issues, in the KH 358/2 Days (hereon Days) cinematic work included in KH1.5 we left out combat and just went with text intermissions that explained, but many fans pointed out that it was a shame, and that weighed on me. As KH Re:coded didn’t have the volume of Days, we were able to follow-up on that part by creating cinematics for the battles and Disney world stories as well as adding some narration by Mickey. Mickey both opens and closes KH Re:coded, so he was the best choice for the narrator. Also, as KH Birth by Sleep (hereon BbS) was going from a handheld console to a non-portable one, we needed to adjust the controls and such. At first, we were also looking for a way to include the multiplayer section as it was. This wouldn’t have been too difficult if we were only working on BbS, but as we had three titles’ worth of work on our plates for KH2.5, we included it as reworked into a single player feature.

—What was it like to reexamine your own past work when producing KH1.5 and KH2.5?

Nomura: Replaying games made years ago often does let you feel their age, but I’ve never felt that way with KH games. I think perhaps the HD remastering has made them even more universal. Also, my impression from playing it after so long was, wow, I didn’t think there were so many specialised worlds in here. Perhaps that’s because they were easy to use game-wise when I included them. For Olympus Coliseum etc, we staff went along with our planning under the assumption that, while we still hadn’t decided on whether to include something, there might always be a KH3 (laughs). There’s also Sora’s growth as a character. In KH1 I was incredibly conscious of keeping things ‘Disney-like’, but as the titles have added layers I think an originality has appeared.

[Interview Bits and Bobs: Guest Characters | What are you careful with when it comes to guest characters? "On original worlds, that their outward appearance and personality is close to that of the original work, or I adapt them a little like with YRP. If they appear in Disney worlds, I match the aesthetic. I even made Zack's waist thinner to match with that world." (Nomura)]

—After your long involvement with the series, what do you think is the particular charm of Disney works?

Nomura: It is the extremely loving and careful way they show and handle their characters both inside and outside the works themselves. I think this is what makes Disney works top class worldwide. This is very important with games too, according to the type, and the whole thing can become good or bad depending on the way the characters are handled. I’ve learned a lot.

—Is that so. That’s rather deep. Can you please recommend any Disney works, or talk about any you’ve seen recently?

Nomura: I think I’ve spoken about this before, but I like The Lion King, that hasn’t changed. Recently, I was invited to the preview of Frozen, and I thought it was really good. Now that Pixar’s Mr Lasseter has also become the chief creative officer at Disney, I expect that from now on there will be even more works that are even more challenging. As a fan I am really looking forward to Big Hero 6 which premieres in December.

—Speaking of Frozen, there were reports that co-director Mr Tai Yasue made a statement regarding content with a point about ‘if Frozen were to appear in KH’.

Nomura: That surprised me too. I checked with Yasue, because we haven’t touched upon it at all, and there’s been no talk about what we’d do ‘if we put it in for now’. I do understand, though, because interviewers overseas do talk about their wishes for what they’d like to happen. In response, we Japanese don’t give clear yes or no answers. Then sometimes they take it as as ‘fact’. It was misinformation that came from a difference in culture.

—So that’s what it was. Now, how do you actually choose new worlds?

Nomura: The shape it’s taking for KH3 is everyone sharing what sort of things we’d like to do on what sort of worlds, and then making decisions looking at that. A wide range of works fall within our targets so there are a lot of candidates, but we can’t make them all, and in the end we also need the OK from Disney. But, the staff working on KH3 are pushier than they’ve ever been (laughs). They get highly passionate on the spot, elaborating to me exactly why we ‘just have to do this!’, so it’s difficult to make choices.

[Interview Bits and Bobs: LINE Stickers | How did the KH LINE stickers come about? "Disney spoke to me, and then I chose the characters and lines myself. I love Vanitas' 'Tch', but the one I use the most is Sora's 'OK'. I use it when responding to things I'm supervising with (laughs)." (Nomura)]

>The reason that enigmatic trailer was put out

—You used the opening section of KH3 in a recently released trailer for KH2.5, didn’t you. The conversation between those strangers was rather enigmatic.

Nomura: I had received so many responses after releasing that play video previously, and I could feel that people were eagerly anticipating KH3. I really wanted to put out some sort of message, even though I couldn’t show any content at that time. And, I wanted to show everyone that KH3 begins somewhere nobody is expecting, with speaking from new voice actors that haven’t appeared in the series before. I really enjoyed seeing everyone try to guess who those two are.

—We definitely were surprised. We hadn’t expected it to begin like that at all.

Nomura: I wanted to go with an introduction that wouldn’t make fans be like ‘yeah, we knew that’ upon seeing the opening section, and that would have both fans who knew the series and fans who didn’t be like ‘what’s this? What’s going to happen next?’ and start feeling anticipation. I do this every time, but I want to try and make things even for both fans and newcomers. By the way, the conversation between those two is actually a lot longer, it goes for over two minutes. When you hear their conversation, you’ll understand the flow of everything so far.

[Interview Bits and Bobs: Likelihood of a PS4 version | With the shift to the next gen consoles underway, especially overseas, would you say you want to release KH1.5 and KH2.5 on the Playstation 4 or the Xbox One? "Since we've only just finished work on KH2.5, we would need a little more time to look into the technical aspects of HD remastering for next gen consoles." (Nomura)]

—The phrase ‘Lost Masters’ appeared in the conversation…

Nomura: That may not necessarily deserve capitalisation. It just means what it says, ‘Keyblade Masters who have been lost’ (laughs).

—Oh, is that so (laughs). We are very much looking forward to KH3, but there will be a bit of a wait to go after KH2.5 is released. In the meantime, are there any new developments for the series?

Nomura: Counting the developments in PC browser game KHχ (Key), I’d like to think that fans will spend the least amount of time possible separated from works from the series.

—We do wonder how KHχ (Key) will turn out. Among the scenes added to KH Re:coded, there is a ‘Tome of Prophecy’ episode which is related to KHχ (Key), isn’t there?

Nomura: The scenarios of KH3 and KHχ (Key) are intimately related, so they are being written at the same time. That’s why the plot of KHχ (Key) has been on pause for a little while, and I am very sorry, but I have to ask you to please wait a little longer. We are also currently investigating developments that would allow more people to experience KHχ (Key).

[Interview Bits and Bobs: First is Comic Con! | As Nomura said regarding Final Fantasy XV on page 18, 'it's up to the company. I can't say any more than that right now'. We fans can hardly wait for KH3 and many many other in-progress projects to be made public. But first, let's keep our eyes peeled at New York Comic Con!]

—By the way, what about KH3D? It’s not in KH1.5 or KH2.5.

Nomura: Aside from KHχ (Key), which is currently still underway, KH3D is the only title in the series not remastered in HD. I personally don’t like leaving it as the odd one out, so I think it’s an issue that requires consideration.

>Sora’s mobility is too high!?

—So, what is the current stage of development for KH3?

Nomura: It’s moving steadily along the estimated schedule. However, we are having a lot of trouble with the image creating part of things due to the engine. While that’s going on, we are carrying out the scenario writing and world selecting. I’ve also drawn new clothes for Sora and Riku and the others.

—Are Sora’s action sections also evolving nicely?

Nomura: When I went to Osaka the other day and saw how development was coming along, Sora’s mobility was too high. He’d reached a level where just moving around would probably make him invincible (laughs). Of course, he can’t move like that from the beginning, but it looks like by the end he will be incredible. I’m looking forward to the next check. In a previous trailer Sora fought by transforming his Keyblade. The variations of those are also turning out to be amazing. It’s close to the way the original Keyblade wielders fought in BbS.

—We want to get our hands on it ASAP! Now, we’d like to ask about your work outside KH3. You said previously that various jobs have fallen into your lap.

Nomura: I do have many projects other than KH3. For some reason, with this timing, I have received many offers from both inside and outside the company, and I will be responding to those first. There are things that were given to me individually, and there are many things related to games, things outside games, and things that are yet to be announced. The closest thing is that at in October I am going to Comic Con which is being held in New York. While I have been given those jobs, I do intend to keep moving my own projects forward.

[In the next issue (on sale 2nd October) we will include a special feature commemorating the release! We will also continue Mr Nomura's comments!]

The latest issue of Famitsu Weekly, releasing on Thursday, September 25, 2014, is to include an article about Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX, containing an interview with the director of the Kingdom Hearts series, Tetsuya Nomura.

A summary of this interview has appeared online, and it covers Kingdom Hearts III, Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX and Kingdom Hearts χ[chi]. Some of the major points from this interview include that Kingdom Hearts III's development is on schedule, new outfits for Sora and Riku have been designed, that Kingdom Hearts III will link closely with Kingdom Hearts χ[chi], among many other things.

Thanks to hokanko-alt for the original interview summary, and to translator goldpanner for translating everything into English, you can read it below.

This is a pre-release special feature including a review of all currently known info, play impressions, and an interview with director Tetsuya Nomura.

KH2.5 parts aside:

when asked if reports that KH3 co-director Yasue spoke about Frozen overseas were incorrect, apparently not giving a clear yes or no meant that overseas some took it as fact

choosing what to say you want to do as a new world for KH3 or at some other point in the future is difficult, they are highly passionate

the conversation between the mystery pair is even longer, over 2 minutes

Between KH2.5 and KH3 they want to leave the least possible time for fans who understand the developments of KHχ to get separated

The scenarios of KHχ and KH3 are closely related, and are currently being written simultaneously

They don't want to leave KH3D out all by itself, so they are considering key things

KH3 is moving along steadily and according to plan

They are having issues creating the images because of the engine, but they are writing the scenario and selecting worlds

Sora and Riku etc's new clothes have been drawn up

The Osaka team said Sora's mobility was too high and he felt invincible (in his final stages of growth)

Keyblade transformation/shape variations are turning out amazing

They have various other projects outside of KH3, but thanks to all the offers coming currently they are going to respond to it first

Square Enix recently revealed that Tetsuya Nomura is no longer helming Final Fantasy XV. Now he can work on getting Kingdom Hearts III out quickly.

"We're regularly meeting schedule deadlines." Nomura said in an interview with Weekly Famitsu. "Unfortunately, due to the engine, there are areas on the visual side where we're struggling."

Talking about the Kingdom Hearts III intro teaser that is included with Kingdom Hearts II.5 HD ReMIX, Nomura said, "When we showed the gameplay demo, we received the fan feedback and I felt a lot of anticipation was directed at Kingdom Hearts III. At present we can't really show more, but I wanted to send out some sort of message [to the fans]." Nomura also added, "I also wanted to show people that [Kingdom Hearts III] is going to start from a place they won't expect."

Nomura couldn't specify exactly how far along development Kingdom Hearts III is, but he did note: "I'm currently writing the scenario and selecting worlds. I'm also designing new outfits for Sora and Riku." That kind of gives you a general idea.

In regards to the change in directors for Final Fantasy XV, Nomura stated, "It was a company decision. That's all I can say about it right now."

While Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX is appearing at Tokyo Game Show 2014 with a new playable demo and trailer, Kingdom Hearts III unfortunately has now been confirmed to not appear at this year's event. Kingdom Hearts Ultimania asked a member of the Square Enix staff at the Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX demo booth where Kingdom Hearts III is, they responded with "the game is still in the very early stages of development and it’ll be ready to show, when it’s ready. We have Kingdom Hearts 2.5 coming out this year, playable at the show, and that’s our focus right now’".

Tetsuya Nomura, director of the Kingdom Hearts series has stepped down as director of Final Fantasy XV, the title that has been in development since 2006 by the team who developed both Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II. Square Enix CEO Yosuke Matsuda has released a statement that confirms Nomura will be focusing his efforts on Kingdom Hearts III. You can read this below thanks to Square Enix.

“As the director of FINAL FANTASY XV, Tetsuya Nomura has mainly worked on the original concept for the story and universe in addition to creating the characters. Hereafter, he will be focusing his efforts on the production of titles that can only be made possible by Nomura, himself, and delivering products that exceed the quality of past titles, starting with another one of his representative projects, Kingdom Hearts III. Square Enix will continue to work on these titles with the best staff formation in an effort to deliver them to everyone as soon as possible and appreciates your continued support.”

Update 2: Tetsuya Nomura has answered why he stepped down as director of Final Fantasy XV in the latest issue of Famitsu Weekly. Thanks to sqexgal for the translation, you can read it below.

If that wasn’t enough news, I’ve got a little something else to share with you. Now I know you guys want us at Square Enix to be more open with you and to keep you updated with all the goings on with our games so I’m going to talk to you a little more about Final Fantasy XV since I’m sure you guys are just as excited about it as I am (which is VERY excited).

The development of Final Fantasy XV is coming along really well and as a result Hajime Tabata (the director of the original Final Fantasy Type-0 and Type-0 HD) has taken over from Tetsuya Nomura as the director of Final Fantasy XV.

Now before you start to freak out, let me explain how this is a good thing. There’s no denying that Tetsuya Nomura has been instrumental to the development of Final Fantasy XV and he’s done an incredible job. His main role as director was working on the original concept for the story and universe and also creating the characters. Now that development of Final Fantasy XV has come so far, Nomura’s work is pretty much all in place so instead of having him keep an eye on the more day to day stuff, we thought it’d be a better idea to pass the reigns over to Hajime Tabata and let Nomura move onto other projects and make games that only he could do, you know, like Kingdom Hearts III.

So now we have Hajime Tabata and the rest of his team working as hard as they can on Final Fantasy XV and making sure it’s the best game it can possibly be and we have Tetsuya Nomura and the Kingdom Hearts III team working as hard as they can to make that the best game that can be. It also means that both games will come out much sooner this way. Instead of waiting until Final Fantasy XV comes out before starting on Kingdom Hearts III, Tetsuya Nomura can now properly begin work on Kingdom Hearts III right now and with Tabata in the director’s chair, Final Fantasy XV won’t suffer either.

Hajime Tabata and his team are a bunch of really talented people and Final Fantasy XV is in good hands for the rest of its development but even if you don’t want to believe me, you can find out for yourself on 20th March 2015 when you can play Final Fantasy XV for yourself along with Final Fantasy Type-0 HD.

If you’ve got any other questions or comments then feel free to drop me a line in the comments below. I’m out and about at TGS 2014 and with the time zone difference I probably won’t be able to respond right away or until I’m back in the UK but I promise I will get back to you!

I hope you’ll agree though, it’s a very exciting time to be a Final Fantasy (and Kingdom Hearts) fan right now!

Following on from Dengeki Online's revealing review last week, Famitsu have posted a review for Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX, which releases in Japan on October 2, 2014. In this review, it is revealed that the Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX Secret Movie "may hint to Kingdom Hearts III", and that there are contents related to the browser game Kingdom Hearts χ[chi].

This portion of the review can be read in full below, thanks to KH13 translator SkyKeybladeHero:

Re:coded, which explains the mission that was entrusted to Sora after the events of Kingdom Hearts II, had its Text based story-telling made into Voiced Scenes, just like Kingdom Hearts 1.5 ReMIX’s 358/2 Days. We could enjoy it very much (and now even the battles are included in the scenes). New scenes were also added, there are contents related to the Browse Game χ [chi], and we were even able to confirm a Secret Movie which may hint to Kingdom Hearts III. It is very nice of them (Square Enix) to do this, but it is also unfair to add such teasing material while the main games are already teasing us enough to know what will happen next.

Sony Computer Entertainment Japan and Asia have released their full line-up of titles at Tokyo Game Show 2014 at their booth. As expected following it's absence at Sony's pre-TGS press conference and on Square Enix's line-up for Tokyo Game Show 2014, Kingdom Hearts III unfortunately is not listed. Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX is of course listed with a playable demo and trailer as Square Enix confirmed on their Tokyo Game Show 2014 website. On the other hand, Square Enix's Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, a PlayStation 4 title is confirmed to be playable with a trailer but is absent from this line-up. You can view Sony's full line-up here thanks to DualShockers.

While communicating with the Planners and Producers, aim at creating a user-friendly UI which is easy to understand, taking into account the appearance of the worlds and the uniqueness of the Kingdom Hearts Series.

Objectives - This Job's Fun factor

Seeing the reaction of the millions of passionate fans worldwide who are obsessed with an exciting game experience is this job's fun factor.

Following Gamescom 2014, MeriStation has had the privilege of interviewing Tai Yasue, the co-director of the Kingdom Hearts series. In this interview, Yasue discussed both Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX and Kingdom Hearts III, revealing some interesting details about why HD 2.5 ReMIX is exclusive to PlayStation 3 and about future ports for the HD collections. He also touches on the subject regarding Kingdom Hearts χ[chi] being released outside of Japan and whether or not it can be considered canon.

- Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX will not be dubbed in European languages other than English (but will be subbed).- The HD collections will remain in physical format, not digital download.- Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance was too new to be considered for a HD remaster, but in time, they will consider what to do with it.- There are no plans for an international release of Kingdom Hearts χ[chi].

Kingdom Hearts 2.5 HD ReMix is almost like cooked candy. With the game completely finished, we talked with it´s Producer Tai Yasue, on the Gamescom event in Colony, Germany for the purpose of discovering all the secrets of this remaster and, also, trying to get some open possibilities for Kingdom Hearts III, the third numbered title of the franchise and also the most expected by fans. The work done for this remaster is too far from being a three-game simple pack.

To begin with, Yasue explained to us how, for example, Birth by Sleep received a graphic update with a texture redesign, adapted for a better resolution. In the case of Kingdom Hearts II, do you remember the game had 4:3 resolution, now in HD ReMix it will be 16:9. This has motivated the team itself to recreate data for all this extra screen, in the same with Kingdom Hearts Re:coded, now showed up in a theater mode instead of a playable game, with three hours of cinematics adapted to the high definition and new voice cast.

Far off from general stuff, we wanted to get advantage of having him face to face to resolve some doubts the community had for some time. The first, and bad one is that KHII will not have spanish voices. The reason it´s because, like Yasue said, in Spain and Europe in general, they will receive for the first time the Final Mix versions of the game, and the only solution was to use the spanish dub, and the new scenes in english, and that didn't worked too well. The good news, the game will have spanish subs, as after seeing what happened with Dream Drop Distance, we can be thankful.

The second reason, and also the main reason of an online petition, is why these remaster versions will not see the light on Xbox 360, having see that KHIII will appear on Xbox One. According to Yasue, when they began to work in 1.5 HD, they studied the game code, and they realized that, as the original games were released on PS2, it was more easy and cheaper to adapt them to PS3, a console which "Extracts the maximum potential of these titles". However they are not closed to release these versions in other platforms, but he confirmed that we can forget about getting digital releases of 1.5 and 2.5 in Xbox One and PS4, by the time being, these will remain in physical format.

Dream Drop Distance is the only game of the franchise that wasn't considered for a remaster, but this could change. Asking Yasue about the reason of this exclusion, he said the title was too recent and, in time, they will consider what to do with it, and it´s considered in the end. About KH X (chi), he explained there´s no plan for an international release, but somehow the story is relevant for the franchise, and now it needs to be recovered and making it canon. He also said there´s no plan for a Nintendo game release, as they are working with KHIII for One/PS4 already.

Talking about the future of the Dark Seeker saga, we talked about how Frozen has become a worldwide success, including Japan, where´s like a hit. Asking how to include this universe in the next games, he explained that he likes everything related with the creation of ice elements the protagonist´s dualities, and the music, saying that he would like to do it like the snowed mountain in Land of Dragons from KHII, maybe including musical elements like Atlantica. What other things he would add? If the choice were his, he would use Star Wars and Marvel elements, but also worlds based on Disney shorts like Timeless River, or Pixar movies, or even characters of Square games. Final Fantasy VII´s unused characters are his first options.

Kingdom Hearts 2.5 HD ReMix will reach Europe December 5th 2014 for PlayStation 3, with remastered music, updated graphics, new contents from the Final Mix versions and other adjustments to make these titles the ultimate versions. If they manage to achieve it or not, we will see it soon, but now the grain of salt in this news is to know the lost of the magnificent Spanish dub included in KHII. Even we asked, as if we had nothing to lose: "And on´t you think of releasing this dubbing in DLC format?" after some thinking he responded: "Everything´s possible, but now we haven´t decided about it"

Following E3 2014, Stevivor has had the privilege of interviewing Tai Yasue, the co-director of the Kingdom Hearts series. In this interview, Yasue discussed both Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX and Kingdom Hearts III, revealing some interesting details about what was considered for the games. With a big thanks to Stevivor, you can read this interview below. Thanks go to Dimi3Infinity from KH13 for the find.

Shane Wall, Stevivor: What improvements were you able to make with the titles included in Kingdom Hearts 2.5 compared to their original versions?

Yasue: For Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix we remade Kingdom Hearts II and Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep and also Kingdom Hearts Re:coded as a theatre cinematic were you can see the cutscenes. We were much more used to making a PS3 game after doing Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix so we had a lot more time to redo a lot of the graphics and a lot of the sounds, so quality-wise it has gone up. I guess that’s one of the big changes and also I guess for Re:coded we got some feedback about Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. Fans told us they wanted us to include more battle scenes so forRe:coded we added a lot of battle scenes and totally remade them into cutscenes.

Stevivor: With this new collection of games is there any chance you will combine the two collections into one?

Yasue: That’s definitely a possibility; no decision has been made yet though. In Japan we are doing a starters pack [with] 1.5 plus 2.5, but so far we haven’t made a decision on what we will do in the American and European market. I guess in the future that is something we can think about.

Stevivor: The games are pretty big. Are there any plans to expand them through DLC?

Yasue: DLC is a difficult thing. We can’t announce anything yet, DLC-wise, because we really concentrated on the PS3 package this time around with 2.5 and obviously a lot of new games are doing DLC so that’s another avenue for us to think about.

Stevivor: These games would be perfect for the PlayStation Vita. Will we see them on the vita in the next few years?

Yasue: When we were making 1.5 and 2.5 we really wanted to put them all on the one console. A lot of our players wanted to play because they were all over the place; PSP, DS, PS2. So we really wanted them together in one console. Vita is another option, were not really thinking about it just yet but I guess there are a lot of consoles right? It’s something to think about in the future it’s not something were are doing right now but it’s a possibility I guess.

Stevivor: Same thing with the PS4?

Yasue: Yeah same thing I guess. It’s definitely a possibility for PS4 but we haven’t come to a decision yet.

Stevivor: What kind of difficulties did you encounter bringing three games all from different consoles to one?

Yasue: With Birth by Sleep obviously the PSP spec-wise made it difficult to recreate it for PS3. We had to redo a lot of the characters, the models the environments and also the sounds. We added a lot of sounds; the PS3 has a lot more capacity memory wise so were able to make the sound a lot richer. In Cinderella’s Castle you can actually hear fountains gurgling and that sort of thing that we weren’t able to do in the vita version. For Kingdom Hearts II the biggest problem was the screen. The aspect ratio wasn’t 4/8, it's 16/9, so we had a wider screen. A lot of the stuff on the side when we just ported it initially stopped animating and the effects weren’t really appearing. But in the end when you play with the wider screen you can see a lot more and it really helps in the battles.

Stevivor: Will you unlock anything for Kingdom Hearts III by playing through 2.5?

Yasue: No, you can’t really unlock anything for Kingdom Hearts III. The plan with 2.5 was to let the user know more about the Kingdom Hearts series with the cut scenes telling the backstory of the other Kingdom Hearts titles but its not going to unlock anything for Kingdom Hearts III. That’s not really something we thought about.

Stevivor: What took more time to make, Kingdom Hearts II or Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep?

Yasue: We have a number of programming teams that would split up for development. There were two for Birth by Sleep and two for Kingdom Hearts II and one kind of overseeing everything. Really both took a lot of effort, we had to change more for Birth by Sleep but Kingdom Hearts II was more vast with a lot more data we had to change so I guess overall it was about the same just for different reasons.Stevivor: Was it ever planed to bring Re:coded and Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days to the collections as playable games?

Yasue: It’s a time thing and I guess it’s difficult with the DS and the touchscreen on the bottom. If you want to make it playable you have to rethink all the game design. Without the touch screen it wouldn’t be Re:coded it would be a different game. Right now we are simultaneously making 2.5 and Kingdom Hearts III and we don’t want to slow down the development for Kingdom Hearts III so yeah I guess it was mostly a time thing.

Stevivor: Thanks for now slowing down Kingdom Hearts III. I know there are a lot of fanatic fans out there that have been waiting a long time for it.

Yasue: No problem, we have a Keyblade here if you’d like to get a photo?

Stevivor: That would be amazing. I’ve been staring at that thing since I walked in the door.

Mr Yasue said I should try and get a photo with the Keyblade in an action pose. I decided this was a challenge I was up to and wanted a shot in mid air.

Please note the classic Sora pose down to the feet splayed out in front of my body. In case you’re worried for my safety, I know it doesn’t look like it’s possible for me to land on my feet from this position but I made it back to earth safe and sound.

Haley Joel Osment, the English voice actor for Sora in the Kingdom Hearts series, was questioned today by IGN at San Diego Comic-Con International 2014. IGN asked Osment if he had done any voice recording work for Kingdom Hearts III, and this is what Osment had to say. Thanks go to @churroz for the tip and for roxasman1231 for posting it on KH13 first.

Have you done anything for Kingdom Hearts III yet? Anything you can share?

I am not allowed to share-- every time, we've done a couple of installments, I am on paper not allowed to share anything about it. But I know Kingdom Hearts fans are really loyal and dedicated and they will not be disappointed when we get around to whatever is in the future.

Something that the original Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II have in common is that they are the only games in the Kingdom Hearts series to receive dubbed localizations for languages other than Japanese and English. Both games were officially released with German and French voices in their home countries, with Kingdom Hearts II also receiving a release with Spanish voices. Since then, all Kingdom Hearts titles have only released with English voice acting in Europe.

A group named DisneyCentral.de have created a petition to try and make a change to this, aiming to convince Square Enix to releases patches for Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX and Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX with the European dubbed voices from Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II included, and more importantly, for Kingdom Hearts III to receive a full dubbed European localization, due to its status as a highly-anticipated blockbuster title.

Square Enix Germany have responded to this petition, and thanks to the team at DisneyCentral.de, we have this in English for you below:

As you've said yourself, we cannot give you many answers yet [regarding dubs]. Sadly, we don't make these decisions on our own and are bound to consulting with other territories and financial requirements. Presumably, we cannot change these requirements for the current HD [1.5] ReMIX (despite fantastic sales figures).

This is connected to us already working on future AAA titles to deliver fans known quality. So we'll try to implement all customer wishes for Kingdom Hearts 3. Including a German dub. Of course I cannot promise you anything yet for which it is way too early and we're not ready yet. But I think [the chance of a localization] doesn't look bad.